Vee’s eyes widened at Ruth’s sudden declaration, that tone and direction had come so suddenly and unexpected that she didn’t know how to react at first. But the only reason she didn’t immediately narrow her eyes and refuse brashly was her aunt’s reaction.

“So now you’re threatening us…?” Leora spoke with frigid calm, eyes smouldering at the dragon mare. “Ebenerz Guards will never turn their back to their own country. And I won’t let my niece get taken away.”

Ruth snorted derisively with a bitter smirk.

“Taken away? They will be pulled down with you. Get back to the surface? You won’t be heroes. You are scapegoats for everything that has happened here. They will banish you immediately.” Ruth replied easily. “Your country’s people may be good. Their current leader isn’t.”

Vee half expected her aunt to immediately strike at her, only the avian cat to continue to stand calmly in place. It was at total odds with her more furious glare and the painfully tight clenched jaw. But at least someone should have spoke up by now, but even Kai and Lagua didn’t say a single world as they simply glared as well. And didn’t even move as Ruth kneeled down besides Rehn, hoisting the smaller girl onto her shoulders.

“Haa… no convincing.” Ruth sighed, shaking her head, and then nodded at Vee. “We’re leaving. Portals are perfect.”

“W-what did you do to them…?!” Vee growled out with an angry and slightly fearful glare, rushing over to her aunt’s side. She couldn’t feel anything wrong, only that she didn’t seem to be able to move even a finger right now.

“They are probably paralysed, but it shouldn’t last longer than a few minutes. Just enough to get out of here. But the mission’s a bust anyways.” It was Kass who answered her, the squirrel jerboa had been keeping quiet the whole time while leaning against the side of a rock. She turned towards the other arriving members of the Guard Group, both Selene and Herald were rushing towards them from the research centre while Mirabelle looked ready to strike at Saia who she just came into hearing range with.

“Don’t do anything irrational or you’re just getting stunned, too.” Kass couldn’t help herself and grin slightly at her words. “Just let us go and you won’t have to worry about a thing. Well, other than being cast away by the city as soon as you get back up. You’re free to leave Dampfstadt with us, though~”

Her words were more menacing than they sounded coming from the small female, which probably had to do with the massive cannon still strapped to her back. And Mirabelle had seen what damage she could achieve with it.

“Damnit, Kass, Ruth… what did you say and do…?” Saia cursed under her breath, eyes twitching and temples throbbing aggravated at the distrust and malice those two had managed to sow against them within the Guards. This was why combat specialist didn’t get to deal with diplomacy! She had thought that at least Ruth would be more diplomatic, seeing where she came from.

“Yeah, no… you better explain a little bit better or my…” Herald began to drawl with narrowed eyes as he turned his jog into a menacing walk, hands at his blade. But barely two steps into his words and he froze mid step, comically falling forwards like a frozen puppet with his nose just so stopping before hitting the stone floor as Selene hurriedly managed to catch him. He was sweating hard and was crying happy tears at the girl’s timely intervention.

“W-what the Abyss…?!” The mouse gasped wide eyed, having held onto her wand tight and had noticed the disturbance in the Amber flow near them but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember what had actually happened.

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Mirabelle’s plan to still strike was promptly put on hold, seeing Herald so easily knocked out as well, and she ground her teeth in fury.

“Sorry, Saia. We’re really not good at the whole talking thing.” Kass apologised sheepishly and speed skated to Vee’s side, surprising the young girl with a powerful strike that immediately knocked her out. Saia actually looked about ready to blow her gasket at the absolute idiocy of her two fellow Babylon operators, eyes twitching even harder.

“Oh, command’s going to grind you to dust…” Saia growled out, clenching and unclenching her fists that she really wanted to plant right into Kass’ face, and carefully slung Vee over her shoulders.

Ruth let out a heavy sigh while Kass winced hard, already thoroughly regretting everything. Sharing her Arc with the other two woman, she turned one last time towards the furiously glaring but currently cowed City Guards.

“Seriously, get out of here and Dampfstadt. Why do you think all the special unity had been pulled out of the city to leave some random Guards to take care of this instead…?” With her parting words she sped after Ruth and Saia towards the Crystal Well, a bright white glow flashing from within it as the portals began to spread far wider throughout the cavern.

———

Once the wraith had slipped through the gate and engulfed the Primal Glyph, Flizz had found her control over her Arc return partially. But it was tentative at best, all of the spatial distortions wreaking havoc on her ability to truly aim her arrival point for anything further than just a few metres away. And even then the glitching gateway had looked more than little dubious. But any hesitations were quite literally washed away by the rapid expansion of the wraith’s form, the dome of water pushing her and Haggard through before it closed behind them with a stutter.

Abyss take this thrice damned creature! It had completely squashed the mission into mush! Grinding her teeth under bitter cursing, Flizz wiped away the gooey, blue glowing liquid clinging to her body and picked herself and Haggard up.

“Oh, they’re not going to like this…” She hissed under her breath aggravated, eyes twitching.

Flitting away from the swirling vortex of portals around the basin, Flizz vaguely noticed Max and Jak falling through portals after portals, but as much as it vexed her, there was nothing she could do about them right now. Her attention was entirely focused on the swirling dome of glowing water that now adorned the basin pedestal akin to a shimmering gem. The primal might of the Glyph was fusing with the wraith and there was no telling what would come out of this.

Any way for her to attack was currently barred as they were entirely dependant on her Arc and Haggard was too exhausted to use his own Arc, not that it was likely to help as the wraith had been able to just absorb the hatred he had been able to channel. A fact that also weakened her ability to act considerably.

For now, Flizz was forced to keep herself and Haggard away from the centre as best as she could, keeping an eye on the dome for any, ever more unlikely weak spots for her to exploit.

She blinked owlishly as the whirling chaos of the portals suddenly scattered outwards, becoming much less focused in its spread and instead spilled more evenly through the cavern. A smirk played over her lips that turned towards aggravation as she realised that it would really only help her open a portal to escape. Her Arc simply sparked with the threat of backfiring when coming anywhere near the slowly shrinking dome of wraith water.

Her eyes flit around the basin, searching for anything that may yet turn this whole situation in her favour.

“Abyss damnit…!” Flizz hissed out in smouldering fury, noticing Lyca, Crya and Max at the other side of the Crystal Well overlooking the basin. There was no way she could deal with them right now, not when the fusion could wrap up soon, and the wraith had already shown a disquieting and focused hatred for her and Haggard. It rankled her much, but retreat was her best option right now.

The flow of crimson hatred coursed through her body, brilliantly invigorating, yet her arm burned and even just the remnants of the wraith’s water began to drain what she had access to.

Ripping open a gate, she glared one last time back at the basin and the colossal failure her mission had become, and then stepped through it with Haggard on her back. The gate glitched out behind her as it closed, its signature lost within the noise of spatial distortions.